For Princeton students, every step raises funds for charity

Michael Mancuso/The TimesPrinceton University students Joe Benun, center and Shubhro Saha, left and Breanna McMahon, two of his felllow runners he recruited for his "Team U, " an intercollegiate fundraising marathon team. The 75 members, all Princeton students will run the Unite Half Marathon at Rutgers, to raise funds and awareness for Shoe4Africa, which works on health and environmental issues in Africa.
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PRINCETON BOROUGH — Joe Benun began running as a young child, when he joined his father on a jog. He continued over the years, running his first half marathon at the age of 14.

But Benun, a Princeton University freshman whose 75-member running team will run the Unite Half Marathon at Rutgers on Sunday, soon realized something was missing.

“I was thinking about the many hours I had devoted to running, and asked myself if that time and energy might have been better spent volunteering at a soup kitchen or other charity,” Benun recalled this week. “The answer was yes.”

Benun said that since then he has been determined to combine running with charity. In addition to raising money himself, he has organized and coached teams to fundraise at the ING Miami Half Marathon and the inaugural Jerusalem Marathon in Israel.

Team U, the group of Princeton University students he founded, will run in Sunday’s half marathon at Rutgers to raise money for Shoe4Africa. The charity began with the mission of helping Africans fight hookworm disease, a disease that is easily preventable by wearing a shoe over one’s toenails.

Shoe4Africa has since expanded and is now working on its biggest project to date, building a public children’s teaching hospital in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Last summer, as he prepared to start his freshman year, Benun decided to bring a charity running program to the university. He said the toughest challenge initially was getting the word out. The organizers began by sending out emails, but it was not until they started meeting with people about the project that it came together, he said.

“Once you talk to people in person and they see how passionate you are about it and how much you believe in it, that’s when they begin to believe in it as well,” said Benun.

Team U boasts an online membership of almost 500, with 75 pledged to run the Unite Half Marathon this weekend. Prior marathon experience is not required to join, and Benun said that one of his favorite things about charity marathon running is seeing someone who never thought they would be able to run a half marathon succeed in doing so.

Team U hopes to eventually expand beyond Princeton University and establish chapters at other area schools. The first chapter has been important, since it allowed them to figure out how best to adapt the proven model of using marathon running to raise funds for charity to a university setting, he said.

“We all have things that we’re passionate about,” Benun said. “I’ve been blessed to have the opportunity to combine that with something that can actually make a difference in the world.”